George e



No. 6|7,782. Patented lan.-|7, I899.

" G. E. SMITH.

TELLTALE BOTTLE.

(Application filed Nov. 1, 1897.)

(No Model.)

1 WIT M55555 lJNrTEn STATES PATENT EErcE.

GEORGE E. SMITH, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR .TO CLARENCE \V. STETSON, OF SAME PLACE.

TELLTALE-BOTTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 617,782, dated January 17, 1899.

Application filed November 1, 1897. Serial No. 657,016. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. SMITH, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have in vented a new and useful Improvement in Telltale-Bottles, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of devices designed to prevent fraud upon the public resulting from the refilling with inferior liquid of bottles which have originally contained or are labeled as containing some standard preparation.

My present improvement consists in a bottle provided with a telltale device in the form of an inclosed hollow glass ball too large to be removed through the bottle-neck and having a tubular glass stem extending upwardly through the cork. Said ball is blown hollow upon the lower end of the tube while such end is within the bottle, and after the bottle is properly filled with the liquid the ball is drawn upwardly by its stem to the base of the neck, the cork pressed into place, and the stem broken off at the top of the cork. The tubular stem may then be closed permanently by fusing the glass at top of the cork or other- 7 wise sealing the passage through the cork.

Removal of the cork will inevitably break the stem and show clearly that the bottle has been tampered with, and any attempt to replace the parts in their former position will fail.

My method of applying a telltale or detective closure to bottles is a novel process constituting a characteristic feature of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the position of the parts preparatory to filling the bottle, and Fig. 2 represents them after it is filled and corked.

A indicates the tubular stem; 13, the cork; C, the bottle-neck, and D the hollow ball formed on the stem, of greater diameter than the interior of the neck.

Solid balls or plugs inclosed within the bottle, made larger in diameter than its neck and supported therein by a wire or solid stem, have been proposed; but in such cases it has been necessary to form the bottle around such ball or plug or to reduce the diameter of the neck after the ball or plug is within the bottle, which operations are awkward or difficult. Under my plan the hollow ball D is blown upon and. integral'with the lower end of the tube A after such tube end while red-hot is 5 5 inserted within the bottle, and in the ordinary practice of gla blowing no wire or other support being re except the tubular stem A.

I claim as my inve )n- 1. The telltale Cl6Vl( escribed,comprising the glass tube A, exter. .ing through the cork and the bottle-neck, and having formed on its lower end the hollow, blown glass ball D, of a diameter greater than the interior of such neck, substantially as set forth.

2. A bottle having a reduced neck C, a frangible tubular stem A passing through said neck and provided with a hollow, blown glass ball D too large to pass upwardly through said neck, in combination with a cork B adapted to fit snugly within said neck and having a central perfo ation for the passage 1 of said stem, substantially as set forth.

3. The described method of applying a detective closure to bottles, consisting in forming within the bottle, by blowing, a hollow glass ball larger than the bottle-neck and having a tubular steni extending outwardly through said neck, then inserting an axially- 8o perforated stopper into the annular space between said stem and neck, and afterward suitably closing the upper end of said tubular stem, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 25th day of October, A. D. 18 7.

. GEORGE E. SMITH.

Witnesses:

A. H. SPENCER, H. 0. ROGERS. 

